Scalp hair becomes soiled due to its contact with the surrounding environment and from sebum secreted from the hair follicles. The build-up of sebum and environmental soiling can cause the hair to have a dirty or greasy feel, and an unattractive appearance. In order to ameliorate these effects, it is necessary to shampoo the hair with regularity.
Shampooing the hair removes excess sebum and other environmental soiling but has disadvantages in that the hair can be left in a wet, tangled, and relatively unmanageable state. Shampooing can also result in the hair becoming dry due to the removal of natural oils or other hair moisturizing materials. After shampooing, the hair can also suffer from a perceived loss of "softness." Frequent shampooing also contributes to the phenomena of "split ends," particularly for long hair. Split ends refers to a condition wherein the ends of the hair are split into two or more shafts, resulting in a frizzy appearance.
A variety of approaches have been developed to condition the hair. These range from post-shampooing hair rinses, to leave-on hair conditioners, to the inclusion of hair conditioning components in shampoos. Although many consumers prefer the ease and convenience of a shampoo which includes conditioners, a substantial proportion of consumers prefer the more conventional conditioner formulations which are applied to the hair as a separate step from shampooing, usually subsequent to shampooing. These hair conditioners typically are formulated as a thickened product, such as a gel or cream, for ease of dispensing and application to the hair.
Consumers who have naturally coarse, wavy, or curly hair and wish to reduce these natural tendencies, may prefer conditioners which provide shine, hair alignment, and decreased hair volume. In addition some consumers who have relatively straight hair desire volume reduction and greater alignment of the hair for enhanced glossiness and an orderly appearance of the hair.
Hair shine or "glossiness" is a desirable attribute which refers to the contrast between the specular and diffuse light reflected off hair fibers. This contrast creates a visual perception of "sheen" strongly associated with healthy hair. A conventional method for increasing hair shine is to treat the hair with compositions containing hydrocarbon oils and fatty esters. Unfortunately, while these types of materials are effective for achieving their intended effect, they also tend to leave the hair feeling greasy or oily, and cause the hair to resoil relatively quickly.
Improved glossiness, hair alignment, and volume reduction with relatively little greasy or oily feel when applied to the hair at relatively low levels, can be obtained in hair care formulations through the use of low melting point fatty alcohols. Low melting point fatty alcohols include, for example a variety of branched chain alcohols, short chain alcohols such as those having C.sub.8 to C.sub.12 chain length, and unsaturated straight chain alcohols such as oleyl alcohol. Despite these advantages, some low melting point fatty alcohols do not form the thick, gel rheology with cationic surfactants as do the saturated straight chain fatty alcohols, and low melting point fatty alcohols may reduce wet hair feel.
Hair rinse conditioners have conventionally been based on the combination of a cationic surfactant, which is generally a quaternary ammonium compound such as ditallow dimethyl ammonium chloride, and fatty alcohols, such as cetyl and stearyl alcohols. This combination results in a gel-network structure which provides the compositions with a thick, creamy rheology. However, low melting point fatty alcohols do not form the thick, gel rheology with cationic surfactants as do the saturated straight fatty alcohols, such as cetyl and stearyl alcohols. When a combination of low melting point and waxy alcohols are used, a hair volumizing effect may occur rather than volume reduction and increased alignment. This is because fatty alcohols for hair conditioning, such as cetyl and stearyl alcohols, deposit on the hair in crystal or solid form. These crystalline deposits separate the hair follicles to provide a volumizing effect. The net effect is reduced glossiness.
In addition some low melting fatty alcohols, e.g. oleyl alcohol, reduces the consumer preferred pleasing wet hair feel and perception of spreading through the hair that is provided by conventional creme hair rinses.
It has now been found that hair conditioning compositions can be provided in the form of a product with a thickened, cream emulsion or gel-type rheology having excellent wet hair feel, spreadability, and rinseability, as well as providing glossiness, hair alignment, and volume reduction, and especially dry combing benefits, through the use of certain low melting point fatty alcohols plus certain water soluble, nonionic, polyoxyethylene and/or polyoxypropylene polymers. In addition selection of particular polyoxyethylene and/or polyoxypropylene polymers having the molecular weights outlined below, also minimizes formulation problems, e.g. stringiness. The invention hereof is described in the sections below.
It is an object of this invention to provide hair care compositions that enhance hair shine and hair alignment, and can reduce hair volume, without causing the hair to become greasy or waxy feeling or to have a dirty or coated appearance.
It is desirable to provide such a composition, as described above in a thickened form, such as a cream emulsion or gel, which can be easily applied and rinsed from the hair. It is a further object of this invention to provide such a hair care composition that has an aesthetically pleasing wet hair feel and perception of spreading upon application to the hair, and especially has dry combing advantages.
It is further desirable to provide a method for conditioning hair in accordance with the above compositions.
These and other objects and benefits of the present invention as may be set forth herein as may now or later become apparent to those skilled in the art can be provided according to the invention which is described herein.
The invention hereof can comprise, consist of, or consist essentially of the essential elements described herein as well as any of the preferred or other optional ingredients described herein.
All percentages herein are by weight of the composition unless otherwise indicated. All ratios are weight ratios unless otherwise indicated. Unless otherwise indicated, all percentages, ratios, and levels of ingredients referred to herein are based on the actual amount of the ingredient, and do not include solvents, fillers, or other materials which may be combined with the ingredient in commercially available products.
All documents referred to herein, including all patents, all patent applications and all articles, are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety unless otherwise indicated.